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Furthur Plays With Marbles, Adds "Dark Star" Guest

On Friday night in Rochester, Furthur kicked off its summer tour with a performance at the Highland Bowl Amphitheater. Once again the group is touring with its late May line-up that features guitarist Bob Weir, bassist Phil Lesh, keyboardist Jeff Chimenti, guitarist John Kadlecik and drummer Joe Russo along with backup vocalists Sunshine Garcia Becker and Jeff Pehrson. The group opened with a segued sequence that began with “Not Fade Away” moved into “Here Comes Sunshine” then “Feel Like A Stranger” and finally the Blues For Allah instrumental “King Solomon’s Marbles.” Set two saw a full-segued set that began with “Viola Lee Blues” which the band then returned to after “Bertha” and then again after “Cumberland Blues.” The set also included versions of “Time,” “Breathe” and “Death Don’t Have No Mercy.”

One song the group did not perform on Friday was one of its most cherished compositions, “Dark Star.” This tune came up in the rotation the next night at MCU Park, Brooklyn, NY. “Dark Star” appeared twice in the midst of late second set sequence that began with “Playing in the Band” moved into the “Dark Star” and then carried into “The Eleven,” “St. Stephen” back into “Dark Star” and then “Terrapin Station Suite.” The latter two selections saw RatDog saxophone player Kenny Brooks contribute as well.

Furthur returned to the Brooklyn venue last night for a show that opened with “The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion).” The group also performed Ryan Adams’ “Magnolia Mountain” in a first set that concluded with a segued run from “Sugar Magnolia” into “Dear Mr. Fantasy” into “Scarlet Begonias” into “Magnolia Mountain” and then “Uncle John’s Band.” The second set saw “Fire On the Mountain” performed without its traditional “Scarlet Begonias” pairing, in another notable sequence that began with “Fire” and then moved into “The Other One,” “Cryptical Envelopment” and “Blues For Allah.”